In this issue of the KlipschSpeaker Alumni News we want to tell about Dr. Phillip DeLeon's exciting research in separating sound sources, as well as Dr. Mike Giles' research in adaptive optics. Also, we want to highlight Texas Instruments' support of our analog VLSI program and Schweitzer's support of the new power systems lab.
In our last KlipschSpeaker, we highlighted NMSU President Jay Gogue and his commitment to development and giving as necessary to our continued quest for excellence. The Klipsch School is currently enjoying increased support from the companies that hire our students. This generosity enables us to provide a much better education for our students.
ENGINEERING OLYMPICS
The Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society sponsored an afternoon of friendly competition on the Horseshoe for the College of Engineering on Friday, November 17. One hundred engineering students competed as more than 100 spectators watched. Events were divided into two main categories - Brains and Brawn. The brawn events consisted of volleyball, ultimate frisbee, three-on-three basketball, and tug-of-war. To test the intellect, an Engineering Olympiad was held in which teams answered questions after buzzing in, as well as an egg launch, and a three-legged race. (Any of you who have run in a three-legged race know that it takes some brains to run with your leg tied to another person's leg.)
Departments and organizations competed against each other for recognition in each event. Also at stake was the coveted overall winner, the Departmental Championship. Points were given for first, second, and third place in each event. The department with the most points at the end to be declared the winner. The overall winner came down to the last event which was the tug-of-war. When all was said and done, the Klipsch School was on top, beating Mechanical Engineering by a close 46 to 42 point victory.
In the brawn division, Mechanical Engineering bested the Klipsch School 35 points to 26 points. The brain division went to the Klipsch School at 20 points, with Surveying a close second at 17 points.
SOUND SEPARATION
Computer software being developed by Dr. Phillip De Leon is capable of picking up an individual sound pattern and filtering out competing sounds. Called "blind speech enhancement" for its ability to separate sound pattern without any preliminary information, in the future the software might be part of audio equipment used by police, the military, and consumers. It might also be incorporated into a microchip of a revolutionary type of hearing aid.
Dr. De Leon began studying the new concept in 1999 with former Klipsch School professor, Dr. James Le Blanc, and continues to work with Dr. Krist Petersen. The Air Force Research Laboratories, whose Human Effectiveness Directorate is developing methods to improve human-to-human and human-to-machine communications, provided a one-year, $125,000 grant from 1999 to 2000. It awarded a second follow-on grant for $125,000 on September 30, 2000.
What makes Dr. De Leon's software exciting to the Air Force, and to others, is its promise and adaptability. Law enforcement and military agencies currently have methods of filtering out sound to make conversations clearer, but most involve obtaining a tape recording, then processing the tape later. In addition, while the technology is available to intercept on-going conversations, it typically requires positioning several microphones so they pick up sound in a tight, narrow beam.
This new method can work in real-time and requires only a couple of relatively inexpensive microphones. Furthermore, the software has the ability to learn. It adjusts automatically so the unwanted voice or sound patterns, such as background noise or music, eventually fade away without destroying the voice of interest. At this time, the software is not fully developed. While currently capable of adapting to and isolating individual sound patterns, it requires a controlled environment.
The second Air Force grant is intended to fund research in ways to improve the sound separation. One aspect of the research is called the "under-determined problem," a situation where the computer is not given enough information to separate out the different signals. Currently, the method needs as many microphones as there are speakers, or sound patterns. The goal of the new research is to make the software perform well with just a couple of microphones, even though there may be many speakers or sound patterns.
The toughest problem is determining how to isolate a voice or other sound pattern in the presence of echoes or reverberations. Right now the software can differentiate between different sound patterns, but the interesting thing about an echo is that it is really the same sound, but bounced off a wall, delayed a bit in time, and made a little softer.
PROF BROWN SCHOLARS
In November, The Klipsch School named the following students as Professor Harold Brown Scholars for the 2000-2001academic year:
Ryan Ahrens
Matthew Alsleben
Laura Boucheron
David Brumit
Sharon Hoard
David Hunter
Juan Macha
Brian Martinez
Richard McClanahan
Julee Pfieffer
Jesus Sanchez
Brian Thompson
Clayton Wauneka
Professor Brown Scholars receive a scholarship for an amount equal to tuition and fees for up to eight semesters as long they are full time electrical engineering majors and maintain at least a 3.2 GPA. Students are selected as Professor Harold Brown Scholars based on their academic credentials.
CLOSED-LOOP ADAPTIVE OPTICS USING
A ZERNIKE FOCAL PLANE FILTER
Mr. Anthony Seward, a Ph.D. student, and his advisor, Dr. Mike Giles, with help from several other students working on Dr. Giles' Air Force Adaptive Optics research project, have successfully demonstrated a closed-loop adaptive optics system that uses a differential adaptation of Zernike's phase contrast phase visualization method to measure the phase of distorted optical wave fronts in an optical imaging system. The measured phase function is then used to calculate a feedback signal that drives a phase-modulated liquid crystal device and corrects the phase
distortion, producing a nearly perfect image. Although this system is similar to previous adaptive interferometric systems invented by Dr. Giles and his students, it is simpler because it does not require separate paths for the signal and reference waves, and the Zernike focal plane filter is easily implemented using a computer-controlled liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LCSLM). A diagram of the NMSU adaptive optics system is shown above.
A helium neon laser beam is focused on the spatial filter at the bottom right to form a point source whose light is collimated as shown by the first lens. The collimated beam illuminates the first LCSLM, which is used as a phase screen to simulate atmospheric turbulence (manifest as wrinkles in the wave front) in the system's entrance pupil. A two-lens 1:1 imaging system forms an image of the turbulence screen pupil on the second LCSLM, which is used as a wave front corrector. The subsequent lenses form a third pupil plane at the wave front sensor shown just below the top left corner of the diagram. A Zernike phase contrast filter is written to the Mask LCSLM and placed at an image of the point source (shown in the third leg, just above the turbulence screen). This enables the wave front sensor camera to detect the spatially varying phase error introduced by the turbulence
phase screen as a spatially varying intensity pattern which it sends to the computer (shown as the block with three arrows just below the wave front sensor camera). The computer converts the intensity pattern to appropriate voltage signals that generate a conjugating phase function on the wave front corrector LCSLM. Thus, when the adaptive loop is closed, the corrector flattens the wrinkled wave front, compensating the errors introduced by the turbulence screen.
The science camera (upper right) detects the changing image of the point source as the turbulence is introduced and compensated. The two science camera pictures presented on the next page show a point image degraded by the turbulence phase and the corrected point image obtained by closing the adaptive feedback loop.
Zernike was awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize in Physics for his 1934 demonstration of the phase contrast method and the development of the phase contrast microscope. Dr. Giles and his students plan to use their adaptation of Zernike's method to implement wave front sensing and adaptive optics systems that will measure and/or improve the performance of astronomical telescopes, ground-based and airborne imaging systems, and large space-based membrane mirrors. They also plan to investigate the use of this technology to improve the performance of future atmospheric optical communication links.
TI SUPPORTS ANALOG VLSI PROGRAM
Based on Dr. Jaime Ramirez's collaborative research, Texas Instruments has committed support to the Klipsch School's analog VLSI program in the form of gift grants at the level of $50,000 per year during a three-year initial period. We expect a higher level of continued support thereafter. Dr. Paul Furth received $15,000 from TI to support his VLSI research during this spring semester. In addition to providing financial support to the Klipsch School, TI also is committed to developing a continuing relationship with our students. Masters student Jack Ambundo completed an internship with TI's wireless design group during the fall and Francisco Ledesma will intern at TI during the spring semester. We expect to send two to three graduate students for internships at TI every year with active involvement in the design of mixed-signal chips. Currently two graduate students in the Klipsch School are supported by TI and we expect this number to grow to four by next fall. Texas Instruments support was used to acquire 15 computers and interface cards for our new VLSI laboratory.
NEW POWER SYSTEMS LAB
The Fall 2000 KlipschSpeaker featured the new power system laboratory and the relationship established between Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL), Inc. of Pullman, Washington and Professor Bill Kersting. Schweitzer has now made the first donation of digital relays for the lab. Two SEL-351S distribution protection relays and the SEL-AMS adaptive multichannel source (used for simulating short circuits) have been received. A day-long teaching seminar was presented by a Schweitzer engineer for students, faculty, and industry representatives in December. The present set of relays and test equipment will be used by two seniors during the Spring 2001 semester in their capstone design project. Future donations from SEL will include digital relays used in the protection of generators, transformers, and high-voltage transmission lines. The value of the donation is $18,664.
FACULTY/STAFF HIGHLIGHTS
PAL receives $435,000 grant from NSF. In October, Dr. Steven Stochaj, Director of the Robert L. Golden Particle Astrophysics Laboratory (PAL), was notified that the Laboratory received a $435,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to use PAL's powerful balloon-borne cosmic ray instrument to measure the flux of positive and negative muons as a function of atmospheric depth over a wide momentum range (0.3-200 GeV/c). Since the production of atmospheric muons is closely coupled to the production of atmospheric neutrinos, the data collected during the proposed flight will be used to cross-check, understand and refine models for neutrino production in the atmosphere. Valid neutrino production models are essential to understanding the atmospheric neutrino anomaly and the related topic of neutrino oscillations. By utilizing a unique flight-altitude profile, the CAPRICE-muon experiment will measure the positive and negative muon fluxes with better statistics (about a factor of 10) than previous observations. The experiment also will measure the primary proton and helium spectra, which are used as the inputs for neutrino production models. The muon measuring capabilities of the CAPRICE experiment have been proven with data taken during the ascent period of cosmic ray measurement flights in 1997 and 1998.
De Leon awarded $32,400 grant from Motorola. The Motorola Foundation has awarded the first half of a two-year, $32,400 grant to Dr. Phillip DeLeon. The grant will be used to purchase new computer systems for the Real-Time Digital Signal Process Laboratory.
Jedlicka awarded $57,600 for two studies. Dr. Russell Jedlicka was awarded $22,700 to investigate "Electromagnetic Characterization and Curing of Resins, Composites and Ceramics" during the fall 2000 semester. The study has two thrusts: 1) developing measurement techniques to characterize the electromagnetic properties of advanced composite materials, and 2) refinement of the curing process using electromagnetic waves. The goal of the investigations is to identify a method resulting in more uniform curing of the composite materials.
Dr. Jedlicka also was awarded a one-year grant under the Sandia University Research Program. The award of $34,900 will be used to perform a study of the "Numerical Evaluation of Electromagnetic Coupling Through Cavity-Backed Apertures." The emphasis of this investigation is to quantify and bound the electromagnetic fields that may be coupled to any electronic system within an enclosure, for example, a computer. The goal of the research is to develop a tool to enhance the immunity of systems to electromagnetic field interference.
Creusere Receives Patent. Dr. Charles Creusere recently received a patent entitled "Parallel Digital Image Compression System for Exploiting Zerotree Redundancies in Wavelet Coefficients," Number: 6,148,111. This patent describes a method for implementing on parallel digital computers image compression algorithms using wavelet transforms which exploit inter-scale correlations between wavelet coefficients. The patent describes an implementation of the embedded zerotree wavelet (EZW) algorithm on a two-dimensional array of single instruction multiple data (SIMD) parallel processors which are interconnected in a mesh pattern.
NEW MEXICO BEST
A copy of a flyer describing a program called New Mexico BEST is included as page 7. The BEST program has been successful in other parts of the country and we want to start it in New Mexico to encourage students to make career choices in science and engineering. The Klipsch School's Dr. Sheila Horan is actively involved in the program. Contact Dr. Horan for additional information.
KLIPSCH SCHOOL NOTES
We now have the KlipschSpeaker on our web site. Locate http://www.ece.nmsu.edu/alumni/ alumni. html, select KlipschSpeaker and bring up the issue you want.
It's important to us that all of the Klipsch School alumni receive the quarterly KlipschSpeaker. We get our mailing labels from the Office of the Vice President for University Advancement, but we know there are Klipsch School alumni who are not in the database. We want to include these alumni, but we don't know how to find them. Please send us addresses of alumni not receiving the KlipschSpeaker.
We can also provide the KlipschSpeaker as an attachment to an e-mail message for those alumni who prefer electronic service. This may be especially attractive to foreign alumni. If you want e-mail delivery, send your name and e-mail address to jtaylor@nmsu.edu. Indicate any special requirements.
If you haven't already, please check the Klipsch School's web page at http://www.ece.nmsu.edu. Our web page tells about the Klipsch School students, faculty, programs, and research. Look us up. The NMSU web page address is http://www.nmsu.edu. You can get to our web page from NMSU's or directly at the address above. The University has a calendar of events web page at http://www.nmsu. edu/general/calendar. If you want to get in touch with us, obtain additional information, or tell us something about you or other alumni, contact the Klipsch School Head, Dr. Steven Castillo at 505-646-3115 or e-mail to scastill@nmsu.edu, or Dr. Javin Taylor, Associate Head and KlipschSpeaker Editor at 505-646-1239 or e-mail to jtaylor@ nmsu.edu, or use the Klipsch School fax number, 505-646-1435.